The Most Honorable Prime Minister,

 

Honorable Ministers,

 

Dr. Wayne Reid, Chairman of Jamaica LOC,

 

Mr. Ken Gorden, Chairman of CWC Board and President of the WICB.

 

Mr. Ehsan Mani, President of ICC

 

Mr. Mao Furong, President of China National Complete Plant Import & Export Corporation (Group),

 

My fellow countrymen, working here for this projiect,

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It's my great pleasure to attend the Greenfield Ground Breaking Ceremony, and I'd like to take this opportunity to convey,on behalf of the Chinese Government, the sincere congratulations to this grand occasion.

 

It's well known that Jamaica is a country of sports, and Jamaican people are sporty people and you have the fastest man and woman in the world. I think all of you may agree with me that, to Jamaicans, cricket is the king of sports. I'd like to quote the following: "West Indies cricket is an almost tangible force which can unify an entire country, and entire group of people, no matter the differences that might exist off the field?". From this quotation, we can see the popularity of this sport in the Caribbean region.  So, I'm very pleased to hear that Jamaica has been selected to host the opening ceremony and warm-up matches of the Cricket World Cup 2007, and I'm more pleased to see that the Chinese and Jamaican governments have reached agreement this year on a concessional loan for the construction of this multi-purpose stadium in Trelawny, to be used during the Cricket World Cup in 2007. This symbolizes the sound friendship and close economic cooperation between our two countries.

This Stadium can serve not only as a venue for cricket, but also for other sports or functions, such as  football and the entertainment items like the concerts, holiday celebrations, exhibition, public meetings etc. I believe, this stadium will bring new business and job opportunities to the people living around and bring prosperity to this Island.

 

At present, Sino-Jamaican relations are enjoying a good momentum of progress. The year 2005 witnesses a rapid progress in the bilateral relations: the high-level visits of Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong to Jamaica in February and Prime Minister Mr. Patterson's visit to China in June further strengthened the relations. The establishment of the Jamaican Embassy in China last July is also an important indication of our relations.

 

Bilateral economic and trade cooperation gets further strengthened. I'd like to name only a few projects as the fruits of this sound cooperation: Today, we're celebrating the ground breaking ceremony for the Greenfield Sport Complex project; another sports project, the Sligoville Sports Complex with grant from Chinese government is also progressing smoothly, several potential projects are also underway, such as the rehabilitation of the railway system in Jamaica, the Montego Bay Convention Center, and Jamaican Telemedicine Network project. Besides,the exchanges in the fields of culture, education, media, science and technology, tourism have displayed great dynamism as well.

 

All these developments have laid a solid foundation for further development of Sino-Jamaican relations in the years to come. Here, I'd like to echo what President Hu Jintao said to Prime Minister Patterson last June in Bejing:" The year 2005 is the year of Sino-Jamaican friendship." And I believe this friendship will be cherished and promoted under our concerted efforts.

 

Today, I am specially pleased to have the most Honorable Prime Minister to grace this ceremony, which shows the importance the Jamaican Government attaches to this project. And I'm also glad to get assured of the dedication of the Chinese construction company, COMPLANT to this project by its President Mr. Mao Furong, who has flied about 40 hours to Jamaica, specially for this ceremony.

 

I have every reason to believe that, with the good cooperation and supports from both sides, this project can be completed on time with high quality, and ready to welcome the Cricket World Cup 2007.

 

Thank you all.